Giant’s U.S. customs restriction has prompted recruitment-fee refunds across Taiwan’s bicycle industry. Independent reporting shows payments reaching workers, but gaps in coverage and verification remain.

Shen Nai-hsun argues that the KMT’s move to legislate judicial caning after its referendum proposal was rejected risks weakening its original case that voters should decide.

From metalcore and psychedelic rock to rooftop DJ sets, two venues have packed the Mid-Autumn weekend with music.

A modern Taiwanese opera production at Weiwuying blended the story of Cleopatra with Middle Eastern dance, Chinese martial arts and an all-female trio of leading performers.

One year in, the Kaohsiung Times’ purpose remains reporting stories about Southern Taiwan in English. We have not done everything perfectly, and one year is far too early to declare victory. But we have published hundreds of stories, built relationships throughout the region, and established something that did not exist in quite this form before. To everyone who has read, written, commented, shared, contributed, criticized, encouraged, or quietly returned to the site: thank you.

Following heavy rain and reports of potholes across Kaohsiung, author Shen Nai-hsun argues that the city must explain how repairs will be funded and completed. However, funds carried forward in government accounts should not automatically be described as unspent money available for immediate use.

Taiwan-based lawyer and political analyst Ross Feingold (方恩格) observed to Kaohsiung Times that “The length of time this case has taken to make its way through the litigation process is normal in Taiwan for a case that involves dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries, and that involves a dispute over whether corporates or local/central government agencies also might bear responsibility due to negligence in public works or regulatory oversight of the companies involved. Often, both the criminal and civil side of these matters can take this long.”

AmCham Kaohsiung, Formosa Files and Kaohsiung Times will present 30 Years of Democracy: How Taiwan Has Changed Since 1996 at The Hub, Wukuaicuo Park (五塊厝公園), on Friday, Sept. 18.

Military commentator Chris Clifford, better known in Taiwan as YouTuber Uncle Topher, argues that PLA leadership purges may be one explanation for why Beijing’s military spectacle around Taiwan has faded.

Business Traveller has highlighted Kaohsiung’s transformed waterfront, major event venues and growing selection of international hotels, presenting the city as a business destination with its own trajectory.